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This is a PDF copy of the online cabinet plans, found on www.ArcadeCab.com, just stripped of most all the full-screen images. This document was created to provide individuals with an easy-to-print paper copy to work from. I hope this helps you with your goal of building your own MAME cabinet. If you have any questions, fee free to contact me at Mike@ArcadeCab.com. If you use these plans, be sure to send pictures of the completed project for me to display. Have a great day! Mike Trello February 26th, 2009
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I love these small, quick-release clamps. I own two and they are used all the time. You should invest in at least a set. They are expensive but worth every penny.
These are the two clamps I use to hold the cabinet sides together during test fittings. They are 24" long.
The cabinet is held together primarily with 1" and 1-1/4" course drywall screws. They are quite strong (never had a head break off like with other screws), have a nice flat head, and have a fantastic grip. A pound of each will be plenty. Just for informational purposes, I've included this shot of some common router bits. This is a set I purchased from a traveling tool sales tent that visits our city annually for about $10. The 3/4" (and 1/2") straight bit(s) I use are from this set and have more than paid for entire set. I might mention additional tools later in the text but these are the key tools that will get you far in the project. If you don't want to purchase them, see if you can find a friend (or co-worker) to borrow from. I've had emails of persons who have done just that, and the co-worker has ended up becoming interested in MAME as a result. Great stuff!
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Materials->>>
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Item 4x8' sheet of 3/4" birch, cabinet-grade plywood Ledger Boards Coin Door (Happ over-under) T-molding (3/4" blue, smooth) - 40' (T-molding.com carries colors other than black) Marquee Retainer - 10' Keyboard drawer slides- 16" 1-1/8" Utility Cam Lock Drywall screws- 1" course thread Drywall screws- 1-1/4" course thread Drywall screws- 1-5/8" course thread Cabinet Screws - 3" 3" paint rollers (3/8" smooth pile) (2 pk)
Kilz (gallon) tinted
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Lowes Lowes Lowes Lowes Lowes Lowes Lowes Lowes Lowes Lowes Lowes Lowes Lowes Lowes Lowes Lowes
RouterBits.com
Valspar Duramax Latex Gloss Enamel paint (gallon) 12" fluorescent light w/ 6' cord 2" Industrial Casters - Rotating and locking 2" Industrial Casters - Rigid !!!!!!!! hinges Foam brushes (1" and 3") Tack cloth L brackets (4 pack- 1-1/2" x 5/8") 1/16" slot cutting bit w/ arbor Valspar Multi-purpose Black Enamel Spray Paint 1/4" glass - xxxxxxx
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The marquee area was the next circular saw cut (cut #3). I just cut straight down, going past the marquee area. E shows the setup and check out picture H for how far down I cut. This just gave me less excess material do have to deal with later on. The fourth cut was to cut up from the bottom, toward the controller ledge. I used the circular saw and cut up as close to the controller support as I safely could. Cut #6 was the straight bit on the front of the controller area, again with the circular saw (see photo H). The rest of that area will be cut using the jigsaw.
Photo I shows the progress so far. The jigsaw is used, with a board as a straight edge, to make the 6th cut (see J). It is again used for the top portion of the controller support (#7 and photo K). The speaker and monitor areas are also completed with the jigsaw (see L for the completed cuts).
The final cut, #10, is done with the jigsaw. The slight curve was made with a sanding bit on the drill. A bit of sandpaper wound around a piece of 1" dowel and a little elbow grease could also do. Now you should have something resembling picture O.
N O
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After the router cools for at least five minutes, swap out the flush-trim bit for the slotter. You will need to center the cutter in the middle of the plywood edge. The plywood that I had was seven-ply, so this task was simple. I adjusted the router height until the cutter was perfectly aligned with the fourth (middle) layer. I then tested it on a scrap(!) piece of plywood, snapping a small piece of T-molding into the groove to make sure it was perfect. Once I decided it was, everything was tightened down again on the router and the first side was slotted. As always, move from left to right when using the router (just like reading a book). I slotted everything except for the bottom. Be careful to keep the router flat against the plywood surface at all times. Take this finished side and put it against the wall. Place the other side piece down on the saw horses and route it. In just a couple minutes, you'll have two slotted sides. Congrats!
F E
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Before I begin detailing how I created this slot, let me explain the calculations in general. The base will be inset 1-1/4" from the front (1/2" inset + 3/4" for the door), and 1/2" from the back. The lower half of the back is open so we have just the inset. If you want to enclose the back of the cabinet, just add the 3/4" for the backing board to the 1/2". The base needs to be raised some to allow for both the casters and the 3/4" ply strips that the casters will screw into. (The base construction is detailed on the next page.) I measured the casters at 2-5/8". From my current cabinet, I know that 3/4" of caster sticking out below the cabinet is about perfect for carpet. The cabinet sides appear to be floating just above the carpet, which is a nice look. You might drop this to 1/2" if you plan to have it on a hardwood floor, but all my calcs assume a 3/4" exposure. Knowing all these numbers, you can figure out where the top
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of the slot should be. The simple math is below: 3/4" +3/4" +2-5/8" -3/4" --------3-3/8" How many inches from the bottom of the cabinet the top of the slot will be (see picture A) Base plywood sheet Ply strips the casters screw into Height of the casters Amount the casters will stick out from the underside of the cabinet
Now let's begin showing this process step by step. First lay out the first cabinet side so the front of the cabinet is to your left. Next, measure and mark 1-1/4" from the front. That will be where your slot will stop at. Next measure up 3-3/8" from the bottom and draw a line across the side. That is the top of the slot. Measure, and mark, 1/2" in from the back of the cabinet. That will be the other stopping point.
Load the 3/4" straight bit into the router (B). Measure the distance from the edge of the bit to the edge of the router. This number will be needed to offset your straightedge. Mine is 2-1/2". I add 2-1/2" to the 3-3/8" and arrive at 5-7/8". This is where I will place the straight edge for the router to travel along (see picture C). Clamp the straight edge down. Next you will want to adjust the cutting depth of the router. Set it at 3/8". I always eyeball it by placing it on the edge of a ply sheet and seeing where the bit will actually cut to. Picture D shows this. When you get it adjusted perfectly, tighten the router down and plug it in. Time to cut the slot.
I started about an inch in from the left edge. I started the router up and slowly (keeping the router against the straightedge) brought it down into the wood. It'll take a second for the bit to chew through the wood. Once the router base is flat against the plywood side, slowly cut to the right. You might need to stop a couple times to clear all the dust from the slot- you are cutting a fair amount of wood here. Stop when the router bit reaches the
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right end line that you marked 1/2" from the backside. Then go back and cut to the far left line. What this will leave you with is a rounded bit on each side (see picture E). You'll want to square off the two ends to make the base fit in the slot nicely. To make the ends nice and sharp, I use a 3/4" wood chisel but you could clean it up with simply a hammer and screwdriver. You just want the two ends squared off and not rounded as they are right now. This will only take a minute but when finished you'll end up with something like picture F shows. Take this side off the saw horses, set careful to the side, and follow the same steps for the other side. Be careful to note which is the front and which is the back side when placing your stop lines.
Next we will build the base itself. <<<- Cutting Side Two Building the Base->>>
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Cabinet Dimensions A B C D
Monitor Shelf->>>
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Take one of the two ledger boards. Aligning it with both the front of the cabinet and the pencil line, screw it in place. As with all my holes, I used my combination pilot/countersink bit to recess the screws. I used 1-1/4" screws for this (see G).
In order to transfer the measurements to the other side, I simply measured from the bottom of the side to the pencil line at both the front and the back of the cabinet, and wrote these two measurements down. Swapping the two sides, I measured, drew my line, and attached the second ledger. Very quick and easy.
Ledger Boards->>>
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The remaining ledgers For the rest of the ledgers, I took a piece of 1x4" stock 4' long and cut two strips 1" wide using the table saw. This allows us to use 1-1/4" screws that, when countersunk a bit, will hold the cabinet panels very securely without fear of popping a screw head through the exterior side. For each of the remaining ledgers, I predrilled and countersunk the holes on the two sides (top and one side) before attaching to the cabinet. See pictures B and C for a visual description. Then I located each ledger 1-1/4" from the outside of the cabinet. By examining the picture at the top of this page, you can see what I cut each strip at. The only tricky part is the interior holes on the speaker area.
Because we will be drilling from the top of the cabinet down, the holes in the speaker ledger will need to be angled. See pictures G and H for how I achieved this. You'll see what I mean when you start adding on the ledgers yourself. Other than this bit, the rest is very straight forward.
Take the completed side off the saw horses, and replace with the other side. Repeat the above steps with this second side. Now you can attach the base and monitor shelf. Then stand the shell upright to prepare for the next series of activities.
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<<<-The Ledgers
Upper rear->>>
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A Cabinet Dimensions
H G
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Take a breather as the next step can be very aggravating. We'll be tackling the construction of the drawer on the next page.
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<<<-The Back
Drawer->>>
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Now cut a board a board 19-7/8" x 3-1/4". This will be the drawer front. While you are at the table saw, cut a board 19-1/4" x 16" for the drawer itself. I designed the drawer proper to be glued into a slot in the drawer front. This will be very sturdy and be elegant, at least by my standards. Although there are no pictures, I cut the slot 1/4" from the bottom using a 3/4" straight bit. I cut it approximately 1/4" deep. You can see how the slot looks in picture F. Note- The brackets that I used are 15.8" Euro-style, Self-Close drawer slides (Model KV1805) rated for 75 lbs that I picked up at Lowes.
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Next, attach the drawer rails. You can see Scott trying to avoid (unsuccessfully, I might add) being captured by the camera as he was attaching the rails. After you attach the rails, attach the receiving rails inside the cabinet. I have no trick to installing them correctly; it took about four attempts to get them right and to slide smoothly.
Once you get the drawer installed correctly, it should look like pictures I through K. At some point during this process the drawer front was glued on and allowed to dry.
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A Cabinet Dimensions
Now is the moment of truth. Place the coin door into the hole and hope it fits properly. As it happened, one corner was not rounded enough and you could see daylight through it when the coin door was in place. Hence, the note at the end of the previous paragraph. However, because the cutout was centered, I tried flipping it around. That worked and the fit was perfect. Whew! Stand the door up and admire your work. Mounting the door and installing the door lock will have to wait until the cabinet has been painted and assembled.
F G
Additional info: The coin door that Scott purchased came standard with yellow coin reject buttons on it. Yellow did not fit Scott's cabinet design so we ordered two replacement buttons in blue. They are part #42-0517-02
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Blue reject button assembly on Happ's site. In addition, Scott is going to use tokens, not quarters, to plug the machine with. Therefore, he designed some custom "push to reject" art for them. He designed them as 1 inch tall by 3/4" wide to fit perfectly. Scott has graciously provided them for your use below.
The next page revisits the speaker area where we will cut out the speaker holes. <<<-The Drawer Speaker Area Cuts->>>
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Drill out a couple holes within your circles (as in E). These will give you spots to drop the jigsaw blade down through. Now, taking your time, cut out the two circles. When finished, you'll have two nice circles (F). I have shown in pictures G and H how the speaker grills will fit. The right side is just the grill attachment, with the left showing the grill face in place. It will be a lot less 'see-through' once it is on the cabinet.
Now the cabinet is ready to be sanded, primed, and painted, so on to the next page.
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<<<-The Door
Painting->>>
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Search A B C Painting- Step 2: Priming Next up is to prime all the pieces. Scott purchased a quart of Kilz and it was just enough to prime both sides of all the pieces. Also purchased were a variety of other items to make his life easier (see D). You may or may not need them. Thoroughly wipe off all the boards with cotton cloths (old teeshirts or socks work great) before beginning. A roller makes quick work of the job (see picture E). Scott primed all the interior sides first, let them dry, flipped the boards and primed the exterior sides. The Kilz dries fast so this process can be completed in about two hours.
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Painting- Step 3: Painting Give the primer a good six hours to dry before beginning to paint the interior sides of the boards. The key word in the previous sentence is interior (as Scott unfortunately found out the hard way). You'll want to set the good side down. I found that if you can round up enough saw horses, slap two-byfours across them, it'll make painting the sides easier. If that isn't possible, I'd recommend resting each board atop a couple small scraps of wood, which is then atop plastic sheeting to keep your floor clean. The small scraps elevate the boards so you can see if there are any paint drips, which you can quickly wipe up. Once you've set everything up, shake the paint well (before opening it,
obviously). Then open the can and stir for a minute or two with one of the stir sticks you snagged from the store. You did grab a hand-full of them, right? For the smaller boards, I used a 3" roller and a small foam brush. The foam brush is used to cut in around any ledger boards, and to paint the edges with a light coat of paint. Then use the foam roller to apply a thin, even coat to the boards, going with the grain. Make a final pass on each board to smooth out any bubbles. For the interior of the sides, you can use a 9" roller where possible to make it go faster. Use a foam brush to cut in around the ledgers. Let the first coat set until completely dry. This can vary greatly depending upon temperature and humidity. Once the coat has dried, apply a second coat just like the first. If two coats isn't enough, feel free to repeat with a third, but remember that you are painting the interior sides right now. I only painted a third coat on the inside of the door, and along the outside couple inches of the sides. Let the boards dry at least overnight before beginning to paint the exterior sides. Flip the boards so the good side is up (primed). We painted all the exterior sides except for the two side panels. We wanted to wait to paint the sides until we had assembled the cabinet. We didn't want to mar the paint when we used clamps to hold the cabinet together when attaching everything. All exterior/top sides receive at least three coats. We did a fourth on the coin door. The exterior sides (which will be painted in the next step) will receive four as well. The best plan would be to let the pieces dry at least twelve hours after the final coat before assembly.
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Search ArcadeCab! A Search Carefully stand the side up, and place the base into the slot of the ... To make sure you get the base seated exactly right, I suggest you use two of your long clamps (even though you only see one in my photo). Attach one to the front of the cabinet and one at the rear, and tighten them so that the outside dimension of the cabinet is exactly 21.5". Now you can drive in the screws for the right side of the base. Cabinet Dimensions Next, you will work on attaching the other side of the shelf. Remove the two clamps from the bottom of the cabinet and attach them at the height of the shelf, front and back. Before making them snug, ensure that the cabinet shelf is in exactly the right position. Once you are sure it is, tighten the two clamps so the outside dimension is 21.5". Drive in the two screws. Next, you will tackle the upper-back, and back boards. E B C D
In order to get the rear and upper-back boards in place, we used several long clamps to get the cabinet squeezed together (G-I). We placed the boards to where they should be, then tightened the clamps so the outside measurement was 21-1/2". We used 1-1/4" screws to attach the boards. After that, we removed the two ledger boards that would support the top of the cabinet, and attached the speaker board from above (L). Finally, we reattached the two ledger boards (M). Throw on the top (N) and admire your work.
H G
To the right are are three pics added in the middle of this page, "just because".
Caster Attachment In order to attach the casters, place the cabinet (carefully) on its side. You can use any length screw; we used 1-5/5" because they were handy. We chose to use two swiveling casters for the front, and two stationary ones for the back. I learned from my first cabinet that by using four swiveling casters, it makes moving the cabinet a little harder. Since then, I've used this strategy and it has worked better. Feel free to do what you think best. Center the casters on the 4" wide board. Set them back about 4-5" from the rear. Drive in the four screws. Repeat for the front, making sure that when the wheel is swiveled all the way forward it does not hit the (future) door. See picture P for how we checked this.
1" Strip Stand the cabinet up. Next, install the 1" strip at the front of the cabinet, above the drawer. This is attached with a small L-bracket. You might want to take a clamp and tighten the area to 21.5" (outside dimension) before attaching the strip.
R Drawer
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Attach the drawer slides to both the interior wall, and the drawer itself, using the predrilled holes (remember the ones we drilled before painting?) as a guide. Slide in the drawer and this step is complete.
Door Note- Make sure you know which side if up on the door before you begin. This is rather important. A little comment about how we arrived at our choice of door hinges. We purchased ____ to use but discovered two things. First was that two collegeeducated men couldn't figure out how to actually install them. The second was that the hinges snapped nastily and nearly removed parts of our fingers. With this being in a home with children, that was a liability. What we fell back on was the tried-and-true piano __" hinge. This was almost exactly the length of the door so we quickly screwed the hinge to the door edge, then attached the other side of the hinge to the cabinet wall. We made sure that the door would open and not hit the bottom of the drawer face. There is not tried-and-true calculation of placement; you'll just do it by eye. We will install the door lock and L-bracket to keep the door locked shut later on in Finishing Touches. Paint the sides At this point, we stopped assembly and Scott painted the two exterior sides. We did this last so that the clamps we used during the assembly process did not mar the beautiful paint job. T-Molding Scott attached the blue T-molding after allowing the cabinet sides to dry overnight. T-molding is best installed with a rubber mallet, and a sharp knife. The method I've found that works best is to start at the lower back on the cabinet and start pressing the molding into the groove with your fingers. Get a length about 4" partially pressed in, then go over it with the rubber mallet, working from the starting end forward. Repeat. When you reach a corner, you will need to remove some of the inside of the molding, which is called notching. Essentially you remove a 'V' of material so that the molding can go smoothly over the corner. See the right for a visual example. Continue working in this way until you complete one side. I did not add molding to the 'L' of the control panel support area. One side down, repeat for the other side. Wipe it all down when you are done with a damp cloth and you are ready to move on to the next step, adding the speaker grills. Speaker grills Scott purchased a bit of black acoustic fabric like the kind on the front of home stereo speakers. He cut off a section that was large enough to cover both speaker holes from the inside. He then attached it with a few small screws on the inside of the cabinet, covering the holes. Next, he attached the speaker grill surrounds to the front of the cabinet, making sure that the cutout was centered within the grill. Then he snapped the grill face plates in place. The speakers were put into place with Velcro. We have no pictures of this process but it was much like the descriptions at the bottom of the Original Plan's Speaker page.
Monitor Scott used a 19" LCD in this cabinet, left on its stand. He found the perfect placement for it on the monitor shelf, and then placed two shims under the front legs to ensure the monitor's face matched the angle of the cabinet perfectly, so that the glass would be equidistant the whole way. He then secured the base in place so it would not move. I hope to have a picture of this at some point soon. Coin door mounting The final step on this page was to install the coin door. We will wire it up later on in this document on the Finishing Touches page. The coin door installation is straightforward. Just follow the directions included with yours and you'll be all set.
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Marquee->>>
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B C D
You can test the light by putting the board in place, and firing it up. Cabinet Dimensions
Now it is time to attach the two marquee retainer strips to the cabinet. Take your first retainer strip and place it on the top edge of the speaker board, the 'cup' facing up. You'll want to leave about 1/4" of gap at the end to handle the plexi pieces. Pre-drill two holes through the retainer and into the speaker board, trying hard to make them symmetrical. Use two screws to attach the retainer, preferably black. If you don't have black screws, a Sharpie can work wonders for you after they are in place. Scott used this method for the same screws as on the speaker grills. Mount the other retainer strip to the (removable) top board using a similar process. Just be sure to have the 'cup' facing down this time. Once you have finished this step, feel free to test out your marquee. Just sandwich the art between the two pieces of plexi (after Windexing them clean). With the top of the cabinet off, put the bottom edge of the sandwich into the lower retainer. Then carefully place the top board. It might take a bit of finagling to get it in place but once it is, it won't be moving easily. Stand back, flip on the light, and enjoy your handiwork.
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Monitor Bezel->>>
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A B Cabinet Dimensions
G H
<<<-Marquee
List of Boards->>>
<<<-Monitor Bezel
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Mitre Joints Begin by cutting two 4-1/4" strips at least 33" long for the back and sides. Cut one 3-1/4" strip for the front at least 33". See pictures A through C. Set the table saw to 45 degrees. Take one of the 4-1/4" strips; this'll be for the two sides. Keeping the good side of the board facing up, cut two 16" strips off. Take the first 16" strip you cut and flip it so the beveled side is facing the saw guide. Cut it 13-1/2" long. Take the second board and turn it so the good side is up and the upward facing bevel is against the saw guide. Cut it using the same 13-1/2" measurement. You now have two side boards that look like D, and should be exactly the same (see image to the right).
Next you will need to cut the bevels on the front and back pieces. This ended up being a little trickier as my table saw's guide allows up to 20" only. So I used the miter guide. With the table saw set at 45 degrees still, place the front strip good-side up on the table so the blade will cut about 1" off the end. Carefully make the bevel on the front board. Then make the first bevel on the back piece. Take the front board (keeping the good-side up) and measure 33-3/8" from the end and draw a line. You will cut along this line, interior side down. You can save a little effort by running both pieces through at the same time, making sure the ends opposite the blade are exactly aligned. Now you can skip the next section and go to cutting the side slopes.
Butt-Joints You'll need one 4" wide strip at least 27" long, one 4" wide strip at least 30" and one 3" strip at least 30". Take the 27" strip and cut into two pieces 131/2" long. These are the two sides. Take the 3" and 4" strips and cut at 287/8". These will be the front and back boards. That's it for the butt-joint text. Now you'll begin to create the slope on the two sides. You'll be going from 3" at the front to 4" at the back.
Slope for the two sides Take one of the two side boards. Measure up 3" on one end and mark the point. On the other end, measure up 4" and mark it. Draw a line connecting the two points. Take your jigsaw, and using a straightedge as a guide, cut along the line. Repeat for the second side. With some sandpaper, smooth any rough spots along the cut. You should end up with two boards like the one to the right.
Create the bevel on the top of the front and back boards The slope of the sides (one inch from front to back) necessitates cutting a bevel on the front and rear boards. I determined the angle by using the handy contraption in picture I and transferring it to the table saw (J). It ended up being 4 degrees (K).
You'll want to now measure up 3/4" on the saw blade and over 4" for the rear board to determine where to set the fence. You are essentially trimming off a little bit of wood. Check the below diagram for what I mean. Once you've made the two cuts (one for the front and one for the rear board) you are ready to work on the bottom board.
Base You will need to cut a piece of plywood for the bottom that is approx 12" x 28-7/8" (you'll note ours is not exactly that- use the dimensions you need). We used 3/4" ply because we had plenty on hand. Feel free to use 1/2" if you want. Next you will need to cut some ledgers. I used some scrap 1"x1" pieces and cut them into ledger strips. Now you're ready to begin the base assembly. Lay the plywood bottom on your work surface. Test fit the four sides around the bottom making sure that everything will fit tight when assembled. Get your clamps out and attach them to the box to hold it tight (see L). We cheated and used corner irons (see M) to attach the sides together. We predrilled and screwed one per corner (N). Now you can begin attaching the ledgers as in O and P.
L M
P You should now have a nice box constructed (see Q). Now would be the perfect time to cut out a hole on the backside of the box to allow the (eventual) cables to exit. I let Scott determine the location of the pinball buttons on the side. We did this by having him locate the proper position by feel and having me mark the center point of the right side. We then transferred this measurement to the left side. Using a 1-1/8" spade bit, we drilled the two holes. The method that works best for me is to start from the outside and drill most of the way through the board. Then switch and finished drilling the hole out from the inside. This keeps splintering to a minimum, and always on the inside if there is any. Now you are finished with the base for a while. Set it aside in a safe location. We'll use it a little later on.
Top To begin we cut a plywood board 33" x 16-1/2". In our situation I already had a template on hand from pervious panel builds. We traced the outline of the panel, then used a jigsaw to cut close to the line. Then we clamped the template to the top of our rough-cut panel, and used a flush-cutter router bit to smooth everything. If you do not have a template lying around, take your time and draw a shape on the board that is pleasing to you. You can cut it out using a jigsaw, following the line closely. Smooth the curves with sandpaper. Next, you will use the slotter to cut the T-molding slot. You should remember the process from when you routed the two cabinet sides, but in case you don't, here is the text again. You will need to center the cutter in the middle of the plywood edge. The plywood that I had was seven-ply, so this task was simple. I adjusted the router height until the cutter was perfectly aligned with the fourth (middle) layer. I then tested it on a scrap(!) piece of plywood, snapping a small piece of T-molding into the groove to make sure it was perfect. Once I decided it was, everything was tightened down again on the router and the first side was slotted. As always, move from left to right when using the router (just like reading a book). I slotted everything except for the bottom. Be careful to keep the router flat against the plywood surface at all times. The next page will show you how to make the cuts for all the arcade parts.
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Basically what the diagram shows is that I measured from the outside edge of the 1/2" straight bit that is in the router to the edge of the router base plate. A picture of this measurement is to the right. The template will be for the router base to bump into and ride along, so the cut ends up being perfect. I took a piece of 3/16" masonite (hardboard) and cut a 14" square piece from it (see A). In the middle of the resultant board, I created a square with the measurements from the above diagram (8-3/4" x 9-1/4"), and drew it with a Sharpie (see B). Next, I cut the square out with my trusty jigsaw, after first drilling two holes in the middle (C) for the jigsaw blade to get through initially. Next, I cleaned up the hole with a bit of sandpaper. Now I had the template built and ready to use a little later.
Layout You can now take the control panel top blank you cut previously and layout your controls on it. I'd recommend first taking the base and lay it atop the panel, just like it would be placed when attached. Then draw a line around the box. Remove the box, then draw a box within that box, in one inch. What this will do is give you an area that is no-man's land- nothing can be placed where it would touch this line. The PDF document that I use for the various Happ templates is this trusty one you might recognize from my original control panel page. I do a Select... on each image I need, then print them each out, keeping 100% scale. I then cut these items out with scissors, and tape them to the panel blank. Play around with the layout until you are happy, then take each item down well with a couple pieces of tape. My strategy is to take a drill loaded with my 1-1/8" spade bit and slowly start each button hole. Get it centered exactly right, and drill down just enough so you'll easily be able to find the hole when you remove the paper. If you drill too far you'll shred your paper template, and we don't want to do that quite yet. Do the same with the center of each joystick hole (for the shaft). Finally, take a 15/64" bit in the drill and start to drill a hole in each corner of the joystick mounts for the bolts. With a 13/64" bit, do the same with the four trackball bolt holes. After you've done that, you can remove the paper pieces (see G) and finish drilling through each bolt hole. You also drill through the four bolt holes of the trackball template. At this point you'll have many partially drilled button holes we'll clean up in a little while. Trackball hole Now you are faced with drilling out the trackball hole. Drill a few 3/8" holes along the edge of the line you drew (see E). These will provide you a way of getting the jigsaw blade through. Then carefully use the jigsaw to follow your line as closely as possible (F). You should end up with a hole shaped something like G shows. Note- Although this hole's shape appears goofy, it fits both the Betson and the Happ trackballs perfectly. Test fit with your trackball and use the jigsaw to clean up any problem spots. The trackball should fit snugly.
To finish each button hole, drill through most of the way from the front, until the center spike pops through the backside of the panel. Then flip the panel and drill from the backside until you are mostly through. Finally, flip it back good-side up and finish drilling through for all the button holes. This sounds complicated but is obvious once you begin. H through J shows the process.
If you have any side pinball button holes like we do, drill them the same way.
Routing the joystick recess In order to gain a little more joystick height, you will need to route the under side of the joystick hole. I will describe how I did it using the template we built at the top of this page. The first thing I do is flip the control panel top over. Take a joystick base, and align it up with the four bolt holes you drilled through the top. Once you have it aligned, use a pencil and draw around the joystick base, then set the joy base to the side. You'll use this pencil box to align the template. Mount the 1/2" bit in the router (see M). Now set the template down over the box and try to center it. Take the (unplugged) router in the other hand, with the 1/2" bit extended 3/16". You'll need to take the router and align the far right of the bit on the right side line of the box. The outside of the router base will show you where the template should sit. Shift the template as needed. While holding the template in place, move the router to the topside and determine where the top of the template should sit. Recheck the right side. When happy, clamp into place with two clamps (see K). With the template securely clamped in place, start the router up in the open center hole of the joystick area (simply, the dead center). Take your time, and slowly remove all the material within the lines. The router's base should ride nicely along the template's interior. When done, brush out the dust, and route out any leftover material. Test fit the joystick's base. It should fit snugly, and the bolt holes should line up perfectly. When satisfied, repeat the process with the other joystick areas. It took me less than five minutes per recess.
Mounting T-nuts to allow laminate or other covering My original control panel has exposed joystick bolts. This is acceptable for a painted top but you might wish to recess the bolt holes if you are laminating or covering the panel top at all. Most of my subsequent projects have been laminated, with hidden bolts. As Scott was going to use vinyl, we did the same. You'll need 3/4" T-nuts, a 3/4" spade bit, and 3/16" x 1/2" bolts to handle this. For each bolt hole recess, you'll take the spade bit, center it in the bolt hole from above, and carefully drill down about 1/16". You may want to practice on a scrap board first. Then you press the T-nut into the hole, and give it a nice little whack with a rubber mallet (or hammer). The Tee-nut will pull down tight once you place the joystick base beneath and screw in the bolt snugly.
Pictures S thru U show the top with all the holes finished sitting atop the base. It is really looking like something now.
Laminating If you wish to laminate the control panel, I provide very detailed instructions in my Ultra-trackball control panel PDF. I won't repeat myself here.
Vinyl Scott used a heavy-duty blue vinyl that he found at a local fabric store, of all places. He chose to paint the remainder of the control panel box, to match the cabinet itself. Refer to the Painting page for details of his painting process. After everything had tried for a couple days, he began handling the vinyl. (NoteHe first attached all the T-nuts and screwed them tight with the bolts. The Tee-nuts now weren't going anywhere.) Scott rough-cut the vinyl to the control panel top (see X). Using an x-acto knife and scissors, he carefully scored and cut out each hole. Once done, he attached the vinyl to the top with adhesive, being careful to align the holes. He used a roller (see 1) to smooth out all the bubbles, moving slowly from one side to the other. He then cleaned up any imperfections, and was ready to attach the hinges.
X V W
Hinges We just used plain old cabinet hinges to attach the top to the base (see 2). We placed the hinges on the front edge of the base so that the top pivots up toward you, so you must go behind to see the innards.
http://www.arcadecab.com/images/NewCabinet/Joytick_undermount_template_lg.jpg
A) Happ button with Cherry Switch Search ArcadeCab! B) Cherry switch in place C) .187 quick disconnect
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E) Close-up of the cutter and 22 gauge stranded wire Cabinet Dimensions There will be two wires going to each Cherry switch, the unique wire and the common ground. The method I use for the unique connection (where the wire goes directly from the I-pac to the switch) is shown in F through K. I strip off about 3/4" of insulation from the wires end (F) then twist the strands together tightly (G). In order to make the best connection, I double the wire ends upon itself (H), then insert into the disconnect (I). I squeeze the end together so there is no chance of the wire working its way loose. This process has never failed me yet. Finally, connect the disconnect to the Cherry switch (K). Make absolutely sure your connection looks the same as mine does in K.
The common ground wire will be daisy chained from button to button, connecting to all the buttons and joystick switches, finally terminating at the ground connection on the I-pac. I take the two wire ends (L) and twist them together tightly (M). I don't double the wires over this time as they are thick enough as-is. Just insert into the disconnect (J) and tighten it with the cutter. Then attach the disconnect to the common ground input on the switch (O). You would do this for each switch except for the very first in the chain. That first switch (the furthest switch from the I-pac) would receive just one wire going into the ground.
P) Another view of the common ground connection Wire the panel Now that we have covered the basics, we'll start detailing how to wire the entire control panel. Below is the image of the Ultimarc I-Pac that we used.
The Ultimarc I-Pac (click on image to see rotated view) For reference, the next diagram is how the control panel will be connected to the I-Pac. Click on it for the larger, clearer image. Note that I do not show the trackball connections, nor the common ground that snakes from switch to switch. One last item to note is something I left off for image clarity (the lines are hard enough to follow as it is). The switches on player one's joystick are mimicked on the 4-way joy at the top-center. Just like you see the red line going from the I-pac's SW-1 to the control panel button and on to the fire button next to the 4-way's joy, so will each of the four directional switches be. Hopefully that makes sense.
Diagram of how the buttons and switches are wired to the I-Pac for the ArcadeCab Control Panel Layout It is usually easiest for you to install all the joysticks and buttons in the control panel first. Then go around and add the cherry switch to each button. The joysticks should have come with the switches installed but if not, install them next.
Next, determine where you will place the I-pac. There are several items to consider when you are determining placement. First is you will need a location close to the exit hole on the rear of your control panel base. This is to allow the cable from the keyboard to attach to the I-pac, as well as allow the cable FROM the I-pac to get out and connect to the PC's keyboard input. Secondly, you'll want the I-Pac somewhat centrally located so wire lengths are similar. Lastly, does your control panel's top hinge open? If it does, you might want to locate the I-pac close to the hinged side. The reason is when you open the top, the cables from the keyboard and PC will be pulled inward. The closer you are to the hinge, the less the cords will be pulled. Once you have determined placement, go ahead and mount the I-pac to the wood. You can either use PCB mounting feet or just simple washers to elevate the I-pac above the wood a bit (see T). The reason you need it elevated is that there are solder points on the backside of the I-pac that make it sit awkwardly. In addition, it's not good practice to put pressure on these.
T)
U)
Now that the I-pac has been mounted as in U, you are ready to begin wiring the panel. Gather your bag of .187 female disconnects and wire cutters (see D), and your spools of 22 gauge stranded wire. A beer might also be nice to have at the ready as this will take a little while to complete. Something important to note is that the joysticks appear to be wired opposite. When you press right on the joystick, the switch that is triggered is
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actually on the LEFT side of the stick, not the right. Same with the other three directions. Just keep this in mind as you wire. The steps to wire each switch to the I-pac are as follow: 1) Cut correct length of red wire to get from the I-pac to the switch. Allow about two to three inches extra to play with. 2) Strip 1/2" of insulation off one end and 3/4" off the other. 3) On 3/4" end, twist the strands, double over, insert into disconnect and crimp it tight (as in F - J). 4) Insert disconnect onto switch (see K). 5) Insert other end of wire into correct I-pac terminal (see wiring diagram) and tighten terminal down snugly with screwdriver.
You do this for all the switches. After this is completed, you should be done with your beer. Go get another cold one as it is time to begin daisy chaining the common ground. Start at the upper right of your panel (in ours that is the player two start button). Take the black wire and cut off a small length, maybe three inches. Strip off 3/4" from both ends. On one end, twist the strands, double over, insert into disconnect and crimp it tight (as in F - J). Insert disconnect onto switch (see K).
From now on, all the remaining switches will have two wires going into them (as in N). You will cut lengths of wire adequate enough to make it from one switch to the next and attach each wire like shown in L through P. The order than I connect the ground switches is shown in the diagram below. Feel free to wire them however you choose- this ordering just tends to work well for me. If you have additional buttons, such as side pinball buttons, feel free to insert them into the ordering where it makes sense. At this point, your wiring is almost complete. Attach the cable from the keyboard into the input on the I-pac, and connect the output cable to the keyboard-in on the PC. If you have a spinner, like we did, connect it to the PC. Finally, if you have a trackball, you will need to connect it. You should be ready to test the buttons and joys. Hook up the panel to your PC and just test each and every button and joy to ensure everything is wired up fine. If anything doesn't work, now would be the time to debug.
http://www.arcadecab.com/images/NewCabinet/I-PAC_wiring_diagram_ArcadeCab_Layout.png
http://www.arcadecab.com/images/NewCabinet/WiringGroundOrder.png
ArcadeCab- MAME Cabinet Plans 2: Attaching the Control Panel to the Cabinet
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